Wake-Up Calls for Managers
For the hard parts no one prepares you for
When the path isn’t clear, the stakes are high, and the answers aren’t obvious—this is where managers struggle most.
Wake-Up Calls for Managers delivers practical, real-world guidance for navigating:
- Tough conversations
- Leading through uncertainty
- Building influence without authority
- Driving results through others
The Leadership Caffeine Blog
For Managers—Creating Clarity Via Your Coaching and Evaluation Discussions, Part 1
One of the frequent themes in my executive and emerging leader coaching and evaluation sessions and programs is confusion over how to create and sustain an effective coaching dialog with team members. This topic ranges from constructive feedback to career discussions...
For Managers—Creating Clarity Via Your Coaching and Evaluation Discussions, Part 1
One of the frequent themes in my executive and emerging leader coaching sessions and programs is confusion over how to create and sustain an effective coaching dialog with team members. My goal with this series of articles is to help managers at all levels gain clarity on the types of discussions while guiding them on a regular cadence and rhythm for engaging in these discussions.
Leadership Caffeine™—Role Models from Dangerous Situations
For all of us operating in the relative safety of corporate walls, there’s more than a few powerful lessons on leading we can gain from those operating in harm’s way. The first lesson is humility.
The Next Act—for Later Career Leaders
New and emerging leaders are our future. It’s essential to support their development as they take the reins in our challenging world. They are and will remain the focal point of my content here at Management Excellence. However, there’s an audience whose needs in my opinion are grossly under-served in the career and leadership blogging and writing ecosystem: the later-career (read: over-50) senior leaders and executives. With this post, I’m announcing a new blog feature focused on the needs of this experienced audience.
17 Ways Your Strategy Process Will Fail
Strategy processes mostly disappoint. That’s too bad, because there are few things more essential to an organization’s success and security than getting strategy right. Here are (at least) 17 ways your strategy process will break bad:
New Leader Tuesday—3 Questions to Bring Your Future into Focus
I can tell you with absolute certainty that I didn’t think about my own leadership legacy during the early part of my career. No one does, and that’s often a mistake. Here are 3 provocative questions to help bring your future as a leader into focus:
Leadership Caffeine™—Great Leaders Care
While a leader’s competence is viewed as the most important attribute to engender trust, the fact that he or she genuinely cares about team members is an important number two.
7 Lead-Off Mistakes to Avoid as a First Time Manager
Establishing yourself as a credible and positive leader is important and challenging. Here are some all-too-common missteps of first-time (and even some hapless, experienced) managers. Avoid them in good health!
Leadership Caffeine™—Don’t Back Off Leadership Development in a Crisis
When things break bad (even momentarily) in an organization, a number of predictable reflexes kick-in. Expenses are cut. Operations reviews evolve into extended, public proctology exams with everyone taking a long look searching for answers and blame. Some of the responses are reasonable and expected. Others are destructive. Suspending the work of developing your leaders and managers is destructive. Instead of letting your training budget dictate your team and leadership development efforts, here are 5 high-contact ideas to turbo-charge your efforts:
Study The Top Leader’s Style Before Signing On
If you’re interested in gaining critical insights into how things work in a prospective employer, look to the style, values and priorities of a firm’s top leader.
New Leader Tuesday—Quit Walking on Eggshells around Boss Bullies
Almost every person who’s ever held a managerial position has spent time walking on eggshells around a deliberately difficult employee to avoid inciting a confrontation. I describe these individuals as “Boss Bullies.” They’re particularly fond of first-time managers because their tactics tend to work on the new managers for a period of time. Here are 6 ideas to help you navigate this sticky situation: